Sir, – Stephen Collins (Opinion, October 6th) believes that distributing care centres for political reasons rather than demographic criteria based on health and social need is a minor controversy but, on the contrary, it has every bearing on the coming budget.
This we know will be brutally painful and, to be accepted, the electorate must believe in the probity of the government and that as a result the service cuts and tax hikes will be fairly distributed. At current prices, 30 primary care centres would require at least a €750 million investment. It is not some minor distraction from the budget but a deeply worrying revelation that this level of investment cannot be managed fairly and transparently.
Why should we believe that the budget process would not be just as cynically abused to benefit partisan and local politics? Why should we accept painful and, for some, deeply damaging loss of service and reduced income without confidence in a government’s even handedness? Collins is apparently in good company in not understanding why the care centre debacle is of major concern – the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. – Yours, etc,